When Manhattan bank executive Kim Southworth, 49, died of a heart attack on Aug. 3, her will stipulated that Ming live with Humberto Rubet, a former doorman at her New York City apartment building, and his family, with the feline's bills to be paid out of income from the fund. Even at the most conservative estimate—$8,000 annually—that should keep the former alley cat in bottled water and Fancy Feast for all nine lives.
"I have no idea why she picked me," marvels Rubet, 37, "but I'm honored." Actually, the reason may lie with Elizabeth, his 10-year-old daughter. From the moment Southworth first put her cat in the aspiring veterinarian's arms, "Kim knew that I really loved Ming," Elizabeth says. "Maybe she thought that I'd take good care of him."
A few years ago Southworth, a quiet nature-lover who left no family besides her two cats—Chauncey, the other, died last spring—approached Rubet. "She said, 'Would you mind if I put you in my will to take care of my cats?' " he recalls.
Rubet had no objection, and when he left his job shortly thereafter to become a paramedic at a local hospital, he and his wife, Gisela, 36, stayed in touch with Southworth as she battled kidney disease. Still, he says, he was shocked to learn of the trust fund—and even more so by the news that when Ming, 6, dies, the $200,000 principal will go to Rubet.
Although the executor of the estate is considering cutting the fund to $100,000, since Chauncey is no longer around, Ming will not lack for either catnip or love. For Elizabeth, the trust fund isn't what matters. "I miss Kim," she says. "Ming is the best present she ever gave me."
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
